ABOUT TERRY

Terry Hopwood-Jackson is a freelance painter who lost his sight due to optic atrophy. First he lost it in the left eye in 1965 when he was 15, and then in the right eye in 1979. This was a significant change for Terry who had to completely rethink his artistic technique, switching from fine pencil drawing to using plasticine as tactile outlines for his paintings. Apart from painting he also writes short stories and poems, and he plays the guitar. He is quick-witted and has a sardonic humour, which he has abundantly used during the filming process on and off-camera.

Terry in his own words:

Since I was knee-high to a pencil, I’ve always been able to draw and later, paint. Art was and is always my greatest love and never a hobby, so the natural step was to gain a degree in Fine Arts and work as a commercial artist.

Even when not working on a painting, I’m always thinking about a painting, either past, present or future and, as some of this goes on in the subconscious, it leaves me time to play my guitar, do cryptic crosswords with my partner Pam, listen to audio books, write children’s fiction and poetry and of course, listen to music – now and again, accompanied by a friendly tumbler of whisky and dry.

My favourite whisky:

Playing guitar at the Xmas party of our writers’ club (2016):

My music taste is eclectic, ranging from my “countryside” composers Moeran, Vaughan Williams, Butterworth and Delius, to a few classical and more modern composers, then onto the blues and folk, the sixties through the seventies and into the wide, weird and wonderful world of BBC Radio 6 Music.

My music has always been a great inspiration to me, but more so now as I struggle through massive restrictions – being totally blind being the most debilitating of course, which means I can no longer paint fine details and have to use foreshortened perspectives in my paintings. There is also the lack of studio room and general space to store my work. My partner tries to understand and helps me to mix my colours and gives me honest feedback on the works I am doing or have done.

Pam mixing colours:

Rejigging my memory about colours, shapes and perspective, Pam often describes to me paintings by other artists:

My website:

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/theartsight/index.html

A rather weird interview with me by Strachan McQuade:

http://allanwatson.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/dead-man-talking-15-terry-hopwood.html